Demonstrating Faith

 

There is a woman who serves her church in a ministry to the poor by making a very low cost meal once a week. When COVID 19 hit, the church stopped the ministry, frustrating the cook who knows the needs of the people she was ministering to.

She made an interesting observation to her church leadership. She pointed out that they were not only approving what the priest and the Levite did by ignoring the man in need but they were preventing the Good Samaritan from his works (Luke 10:30-35).

Our current culture – even among those who call themselves Christians – has become very contentious. The distrust in leadership has grown. The respect for each other has fallen. The hope of many has waned. The disagreements of the severity of the virus and the overreach of the reactions has continued.

But, God remains faithful. Sadly, many are not concerned for His Word or His worship. Obviously, the woman willing to confront her church leadership has a certain courage that many do not have.

I want to believe that this woman would not have objected had her leaders had a biblical reason for their decision. If restaurants can do take out, why could a ministry not continue to serve meals to those in need? Should the Samaritan of today cross the street to avoid the need of one in trouble because they might get a virus? Or, should we be more like Esther in serving the Lord, “If I perish, I perish?”

Trusting in the faithfulness of God is imperative for the Christian. He has warned us over and over again that we will face judgment if we fail to obey His Word by refusing to listen to Him.

In this conversation about the cook we talked about the  complacency that many of us live in with regard to the sin in our nation. We do not show any special concern for the poor, we fail to stand against the murder of babies in the womb (this is child sacrifice, check what God’s Word says about that! Jeremiah 32:35), we watch the demise of the family without ever expressing God’s design for the family. In a word, we are complacent – just like the women Isaiah called out:

Rise up, you women who are at ease, hear my voice; you complacent daughters, give ear to my speech. In little more than a year you will shudder, you complacent women; for the grape harvest fails, the fruit harvest will not come. Tremble, you women who are at ease, shudder, you complacent ones; strip, and make yourselves bare, and tie sackcloth around your waist (Isaiah 32:9-11).

God has been faithful to us to bring this trial (COVID 19 and governmental authoritarianism) to an unfaithful nation – including many inside His Church.

We cannot silently sit back and watch more people join the ranks of the destitute as the state allows businesses to die. We cannot pretend the needy are not among us, complacently sitting in our homes as ordered. We cannot be complicit with a government that not only approves of the Levite and the priest for crossing the road to avoid dealing with a hurt man, but stops the Samaritan from caring for him.

God is in control. In His Word, if a person is sick and infectious they should be quarantined. We should protect the most vulnerable, to be sure.

But if we are healthy and have no symptoms then we need not sit still. Our families need someone to provide for them and the Bible is clear that this is the job of the family members – not the state (1 Timothy 5:8, 2 Thessalonians 3:10).

Our faithful God has given us this trial. Trials are intended to get our attention and grow our faith (James 1:3-6).

God has faithfully kept His Word to us. We will be faithful to Him?